Dig Into Sweet Potato Season

Strawberry picking gets all the attention, but autumn has its own version—and this one comes with a shovel. At Kagimachi Farm in Suita, families and kids can head into the field, dig through the soil and discover the surprisingly satisfying moment when a cluster of satsumaimo finally comes out of the ground. The farm’s 2026 sweet-potato digging season runs from September 26 through early November, putting one of Japan’s favorite autumn foods quite literally into your hands.

For kids, much of the fun is simply not knowing what’s underneath. One plant might reveal a few modest potatoes; the next can produce a tangled little haul. Kagimachi grows several familiar Japanese varieties, including Kintoki, Annō-imo, Silk Sweet and Beni Haruka, giving families a chance to see—and later taste—the differences between potatoes that usually appear already roasted, packaged or transformed into sweets. Shovels and gloves can be borrowed at the farm when available, so getting muddy is considerably easier than cleaning up afterward.

The experience is refreshingly straightforward. Admission is ¥300 for adults and ¥200 for children, then you pay by weight for the potatoes you harvest. Kintoki is ¥550 per kilogram, Annō-imo ¥600, and Silk Sweet and Beni Haruka ¥700. A visit can take anywhere from around 30 minutes to a couple of hours depending on how enthusiastically everyone embraces the digging. And unlike strawberry picking, the reward doesn’t have to disappear before you get home—you leave with your harvest and the considerably more important family debate over what to cook with it.

Kagimachi isn’t a polished tourist farm built around busloads of visitors. It’s a small local farm tucked into residential Suita, and that’s part of its charm. For Osaka families, it makes an easy seasonal outing—about 30–35 minutes from Osaka/Umeda by train and on foot, with inexpensive parking available for families coming by car. International residents and adventurous visitors can join too, but this is a Japanese-language local experience: reservations are handled by phone, and English service isn’t advertised. If you’re comfortable navigating that—or have a Japanese-speaking friend who can make the call—you’ll find something much closer to an ordinary Osaka family outing than a packaged tourist attraction.

And when those muddy satsumaimo finally make it back to the kitchen, there’s only one important decision left: roast them, turn them into dessert—or start planning another trip to dig up more.

Strawberry Picking for Fall – Swap the berry basket for a shovel and dig your own autumn satsumaimo.

Four Potato Varieties – Harvest Kintoki, Annō-imo, Silk Sweet and Beni Haruka.

Kids Can Get Dirty – Dig through the soil and discover what’s hiding underneath each plant.

Take Home Your Harvest – Pay by weight for the sweet potatoes you dig and decide what to cook later.

A Local Suita Experience – Skip the tourist attraction and spend an autumn afternoon at a neighborhood farm.

Photos & Artwork: Kagimachi Farm official Website, Japan Scenes

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